Nguyen Huu Trung and his bicycle

It can run 60 kilometers after every charge and can charge while someone is riding it.

The bicycle was invented by Nguyen Huu Trung, a first year student in the Electrical and Electronics Engineering Faculty at the HCMC University of Technical Education.

The increased number of vehicles using fossil fuels has put pressure on the environment and caused problems such as air pollution, traffic jams and traffic accidents.

After eight months of research and development, Trung created a bicycle which runs well without petrol. With the product, Trung wants to heighten people’s awareness of the importance of renewable energy and environmental protection in large cities.

“I want to see motorbikes rolling on streets with two kinds of clean energy one day,” he said.

Trung’s bicycle operates with two sources of energy – solar energy and energy from electromagnetic induction. He said this is the first vehicle in Vietnam running with two kinds of energy.

Solar energy is the most commonly used source of renewable energy. It allows a vehicle to run without maintenance and noise. The energy from electromagnetic induction acts as an electricity generator to charge the vehicle when running to offset the consumed energy.

Trung’s bicycle is equipped with a 350 W electric motor powered by two batteries that can store electricity. 

After a full charge of electricity, the bicycle can travel a distance of 60km without sunshine. In the sun, the bicycle operates without the pedal recharging it as there is a storage device from the solar panel.

Trung is continuing to work on his bicycle and is contacting bicycle manufacturers to commercialize the product. 

It is estimated that the bicycle will cost VND5 million, much cheaper than electric bicycles available in the market.

Trung’s bicycle has been praised by lecturers and friends who say it is useful in large urban areas where traffic jams occur regularly and the air quality is worsening.

The latest report from the HCMC Transport Department said there are 8 million vehicles in circulation, including 7.3 million motorbikes and 640,000 cars. 

The motorbike boom in the country is attributed to local authorities’ failure to develop public transport.

A report from GreenID found that the air quality in HCMC is better than in Hanoi, but the southern city still has 78 days a year when the dust concentration is higher than the WHO standard (25 μg/m3).

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